How did I get wrapped up in this anyway?

OK, so I am a reasonably intelligent guy. I'm no Einstein but I do have more common sense than a stapler. What gets a perfectly average Joe like me to wind up getting wrapped up in the really awful situation of having joined a notorious cult?




It's a simple answer and a really complex explanation: everyone need to feel like they have something to hold on to and everyone needs to feel like they belong to someone or something. Despite all the great things we all have in life, there's always something deep inside that haves you looking for more. That's what groups like the Spiritual Rights Foundation (SRF) looks for.



With crushing job stress and my fair share of failed relationships under my belt I was looking to fill a huge hole in my life. SRF, as it turned out, was on the hunt for a person with an ample bank account and knowledge of PC's. They got me the first time I walked in. How they figured I would fit the bill for them is beyond me. But they were friendly, in their own way. Guess that is how I got sucked in.



I will detail more about the cult as well as my experiences with it in later posts. This time, I'll just lay out some foundation (no pun intended). I will also say that events related here, while correct to my recollection and understanding, may have minor differences to actual events. Still, I would hope that what I describe here will convey the spirit of actual events.



The Spiritual Rights Foundation (SRF) is a non-profit religious organization formed some 25 years ago by former students of the Berkeley Psychic Institute. Two of those founders have been treated for severe mental illness prior to founding SRF. One of those founders, Pastor Willam Duby (known as Reverend Bill), often raved that he received government disability benefits for being "legally insane" and that he "rescued" a fellow founder from "the crazy house" - which is believed to be a psychiatric hospital. The exact nature of his and the other founding member's illness have not been disclosed, but speculation is that schizophrenia, with paranoia or acute psychosis were likely diagnoses.



SRF has been strongly against the practice of Psychology and especially Psychiatry. With the knowledge of the founder's experiences with Psychiatry, there should be no wonder why. This mistrust of the behavioral sciences is so strong, that students and staff of SRF are required to sign a contract that prohibits the use of counseling or psychiatric treatment.

It's no secret that many schizophrenics and psychotics have religious delusions. It's also no secret that paranoids mistrust the behavioral sciences more than any other element in their lives. The teaching at SRF instilled fear and distrust of psychology, saying that psychologists just "get into your head" and provide no worthwhile treatment.

Psychiatrists fare even worse in the eyes of SRF: psychiatric medicines were said to "freeze" those who are so un-enlightened to use them at the state of mind that exists when treatment begins. So in SRF dogma, anyone swallowing a Prozac will be depressive forever. Even in the afterlife.

Now considering that two founders of SRF had some amount of time in the psych ward, did their experience with psychiatric medicines "freeze" them at their state of insanity? If they were, then how did they "un-freeze" to arise in enlightenment to found a spiritual foundation? And how come no one gets to learn about that?

I never asked. It just never occurred to me. I suppose that is what organizations like SRF bank on - that the members will be so caught up in the organization's propaganda that no one could question the people dealing it.

I drank the Kool-Aid.

Bill was an incredibly charismatic and interesting guy. Loquacious when he wanted to be, quiet when it suited him. Full of laughter and merriment on moment and consumed with rage the next. His talks and writings were engaging. Some of his teaching sessions ran all night, keeping us all rapt in attention. Several times I found myself spending whole weekends there with little sleep just to be around the "energy". He was amazing to watch. I'd never seen anyone like him before.

He positioned himself as your friend, father, brother, counseler. That's what hooked me in. There was an amzaing amount of commitment and deep, hearfelt effort put into promoting the good news that we had to deliver to the world. We would stay up all night sometimes helping out building web sites, doing construction labor, writing articles for the newspaper, speaking on the podcast, or just being there.

They tell you that one hour of trancing their way equals eight hours of sleep. So, you really don't need to sleep much. And the best psychic work is done after midnight. Every night, there is a "spirit patrol" where a group of people "clean" the energy at SRF and work on various projects such as cleaning the facilities, writing, recording hypnosis or trance materials and getting rid of bad energy from people like me. This spirit patrol begins at about 11:00 at night and carries on until 3AM.

I've met several good people during my time there and keep in touch with as many as I can. Those people are the ones who are out of the "energy" - they have all left the clutches of SRF. The ones I know who stayed aren't interested in staying in touch. Besides, they have to stay up all night cleaning up the psychic mess I am leaving behind through this blog.

Thanks to a bit of awakening and some good fortune, I was able to see the place for what it really is: a psychic pyramid scheme. In order to get more money, they needed more people to give them free labor and a regular income. Now that Bill is dead (he passed in 2001), that charismatic figure is gone and the same old motley crew is living out the same old scripts that keep them on a treadmill to nowhere.

There is more. I'll post as often as I can.